Copper Penny

Located at 109 Chestnut Street in downtown Wilmington, the Copper Penny serves pub food for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Food and drink specials change daily.

Much like Hillsborough’s similarly named but completely unaffiliated Wooden Nickel, Wilmington’s Copper Penny is small, loud, somewhat basic, and insanely popular. The appeal isn’t hard to fathom – it’s a casual spot to grab a drink, watch a game, or meet a friend – but the food doesn’t merit the inevitable lunchtime wait.

First, the good: Copper Penny’s menu is respectably large and goes beyond basic bar food. You can definitely roll with the staples here – nachos and burgers and wings are all up for grabs – but you can also try your luck with a crab cake sandwich, a po boy, a portabella sandwich, or shrimp tacos. There are enough options to satisfy vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

Some of the offerings are quite tasty, too. My wife and I split a spinach and artichoke dip starter and had a burger apiece. Both the dip and the accompanying chips were served hot, and the dip was satisfactorily creamy. The half-pound burgers were quality, too. Copper Penny uses a half Angus, half short rib blend, which made for a flavorful burger that was none too dry. I went with the BBQ Burger (sauce, cheddar, bacon, fried onions, lettuce, and tomato) while my wife went with the Southwest Burger (jalapenos, bacon, pepper jack, chipotle mayo, fried onions, lettuce, and tomato), and neither of us was disappointed. Both burgers came with a small portion of Asian slaw, which had a nice peanut flavor. But while my wife’s sweet potato fries were nicely crisped, my hand cut fries were greasy and limp.

While Copper Penny’s portion sizes are respectable, prices are a bit high by bar standards. Our burgers were $12 and $12.29 respectably while our dip ran $9. The servers here are hard-working and constantly hustling and bustling to and fro. However, they are thwarted by a somewhat convoluted seating system. A lot of Copper Penny’s tables are six-tops, and to seat more patrons, two sets of couples may end up sharing a table, but not a server. This seems like a recipe for miscommunication though we were lucky to avoid any such problems.

Overall, Copper Penny is a solid lunch spot if you don’t mind the (considerable) noise, but if you’re tasked with a long wait time, turn elsewhere.

7.5/10